Wednesday, December 10, 2008

1. Publish a manifesto.Give it away and makeit easy for the manifesto to spread far and wide. It doesn't have to be printed or even written. But it's a mantra and a morto and a way of looking at the world. It unites your tribe members and give them a structure.

2. Make it easy for your followers to connect with with you.It could be as simple as visiting you or e-mailing you or watching you on television. Or it could be as rich and complex as interacting with you on Facebook or joining your social network on Ning.

3. Make it easy for your followers to connect with one another.There's that little nod that one restaurant regular gives to another recognized regular. Or the shared drink in an airport lounge. Even better is the camaraderie developed by volunteers on a political campaign or insiders involved in a new product launch. Great leaders figure out how to make these interactions happen.

4. Realize that money is not the point of a movement.Money exists merely to enable it. The moment you try to cash out is the moment you stunt the growth of your movement.

5. Track your progress.Do it publicly and create pathways for your followers to contribute to that progress.

Principles

1. Transparency really is your only option.Every failed televangelist has learned this the hard way. The people who follow you aren't stupid. You might go down in scandal or, more likely, from ennui. People can smell subterfuge from a mile away.

2. Your movement needs to be bigger than you.An author and his book, for example, don't constitute a movement. Changing the way people apply to college does.

3. Movements that grow, thrive.Every day they get better and more powerful. You'll get there soon enough. Don't mortgage today just because you're in a hurry.

4. Movements are made most clear when compared to the status quo or to movements that work to push the other direction.Movements do less well when compared to other movements with similar goals. Instead of beating them, join them.

5. Exclude members.Exclusion is an extremely powerful force for loyalty and attention. Who isn't part of your movement matters almost as much as who is.

6. Tearing others down is never so helpful to a movement as building your followers up.